In a hurry? Think twice before jumping a traffic light. The new challan payment system implemented by the Delhi traffic police might have you spend a lot more time running around to pay the challan.

The change in the issuance and payment of challan was introduced to enforce discipline on Delhi roads. Earlier,violators could pay fines directly to the traffic personnel on the spot. But in the new system of payment of challans,the violators are caught not by traffic personnel but by cameras put up at several junctions across the city.

Now no offender is stopped mid-way by a traffic personnel. As soon as the camera captures you flouting a traffic rule,the picture of your vehicle is clicked and a notice is generated. The notice along with the challan then reaches the residence of the offender within 48 hours,police said. The camera takes the picture of the vehicle. This is then transmitted to the central server through 3G and a notice is generated. In this system,the commuter does not have the privilege to argue with the traffic personnel and strike a deal with him. If he/she has committed the offence,they will be booked and will have to pay the whole amount mentioned in the challan, a traffic police officer said.

Also,the offender is given 30 days time to pay the challan,failing which it gets transferred to a court. The offender then will have to go to the court and pay the fine. Further,if the person fails to appear in court and ignores the court summons then a warrant can be issued in his/her name, the officer said.

Many commuters complained that the procedure of payment of challans has become long and confusing. Earlier the matter used to get settled on the spot. Now,it has become more tedious. When I first received a challan at home,I did not know what to do with it. It was lying on my table and after some time I received another notice saying that I need to go to court. It was just a Rs 100 fine for which I had to go to so many places. It resulted in wasting a lot of my time and money, said Tanveer,a motorist.

However,the Delhi traffic police said the whole procedure is explained in the notice and it was just sheer laziness on part of violators that they ignore it.

Explaining the system,Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Satyendra Garg,said a notice is first sent to the residence of the offender by speed-post. The notice lists out locations and branches where one can pay the fine.

The offender can either make the payment in cash,demand draft or cheque at the listed locations. It is not a difficult procedure but people are finding it difficult to accept the change. Motorists never paid attention to traffic challans because they were easy to ignore. Now,they have take it more seriously as they have to take out time to go and settle the fine, he said.